This year is the eighth year I have been decorating my bus with Christmas decorations to offer tours of Christmas displays in and around the Rutland area. I can recall just one act of vandalism to my bus in the prior seven years. This year, I have experienced having my bus egged twice. I have also had some of my signs come up missing.

I really want to continue to offer my bus for display and hope people will enjoy seeing it throughout the season. I want to thank Dave Boynton of the Village Snack Bar for allowing me to park my Christmas Light Tour Bus at the restaurant. If you drive by the bus sometime and it looks like someone has done some damage, please call me. If anyone out there happens to come across one of my signs in a dumpster or knocked down, let me know. I know some people out there have editorialized about their displeasure with the number of advertising signs along the road. I hope you will give a little guy like me some slack.

I began offering these tours in 2006, when The Meadows called me and asked if I could take some of their residents to see some Christmas lights. It was a very enriching experience. Looking at Christmas displays seems to bring out the inner child in everyone. It was only then that I came up with the idea of offering these tours to the public.

In the second year, I referred to this tour as the “Holiday Light Tour.” However, I didn’t want it to seem that I was bowing to political correctness. So, since the third year, I have happily called this the “Christmas Light Tour.” Over the years, I have had a lot of fun showing people the many wonderful Christmas displays. I hope people feel there is value to what I am doing. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Season’s Greetings.